Sweet Almond Butter Addiction

Dear all,

You might remember that I wrote a post about almond butter several months ago. I just had to make it the center of a new post again because I am so fond of it. There are two foods I seem to be addicted to and could eat any time of the day, every day, for probably a very long time. One of them is avocado, which you can find in EVERY single one of my sandwiches ( a sandwich is simply not complete without avocado in it). The other food is- of course- almond butter.

Funny enough, I hated to eat nuts as a child. Probably because the way they found themselves onto my plate was in dry cakes or other poor tasting dishes- sorry mom! Since we have introduced a large variety of nuts into our plant-based diet, I have come to like all of them. But seriously, nothing can beat the creaminess, sweetness and stickiness of almond nut butter.

So today, after having finished my lunch (which consisted of an avocado-coleslaw-red beet/walnut/pomegranate spread- toasted panini and an almond butter banana honey sandwich (I would have added some crunchy salad leaves on top but unfortunately ran out of lettuce), I decided to take most of the ingredients from my yummy almond sandwich and turn them into cookies.

These cookies turned out to be sooo good! The children will be delighted by their sweet surprise after school. Usually, we have a “no crumbs in the car” policy, but honestly, how can I withhold these cookies from them??

Almond butter is rich in magnesium and iron. Magnesium contributes to the function of your nervous system, facilitates muscle contraction, makes up a component of healthy bone tissue and helps support your metabolism. Iron promotes healthy oxygen transport — it helps you make hemoglobin and myoglobin, two proteins that oxygenate your tissues. Like vitamin E, iron protects your cells from oxidative damage by helping to activate antioxidant enzymes in your cells.

Almond butter has a very high vitamin E content. Vitamin E protects your cells from oxidative damage. Just one tablespoon of almond butter contains approximately 4 milligrams of vitamin E, which is about 27 percent of your daily vitamin E requirements.

Some of almond butter’s health benefits come from its calcium and copper content. Both minerals play a role in brain cell communicationand keep your nervous system functional, while calcium also aids in muscle function and keeps your skeleton strong. Copper enables you to make melanin, which is a pigment that helps protects your skin from the sun. Each 2-tablespoon serving of almond butter contains 111 milligrams of calcium, or 11 percent of the recommended daily intake, as well as 299 micrograms of copper, or one-third of the daily requirement.

Almond butter offers cardiovascular benefits because of its fiber and healthy fat content. Each serving of almond butter contains 18 grams of fat, made up primarily of unsaturated fatty acids. These fats improve your blood cholesterol levels to combat cardiovascular disease, and also provide energy.

Another great way to use almond butter is in raw balls.

You can serve them as breakfast together with fresh fruits or as a healthy snack. You can customize the basic recipe to your liking- use diffent types of dried fruits, puffed grains (puffed amaranth or puffed brwon rice) instead of the granola, different nut butters (one of my favorites is macadamia nut butter) and different types of nuts.